Others shine on both levels: for instance, non-binary critic Oliver Reeson’s intricately woven essay, “St Louis”. While all the stories read well, some are more notable for the fresh perspective of their content than their storytelling craft. This is less a “best of” anthology than one that seeks to be broadly representative – a book that immediately brings to mind how useful it will be in the classroom. And from Land’s Edge, the summer shack that gifted a six-year-old Tim Winton his twin passions of reading and the coastal outdoors. Anna Goldsworthy’s squarely middle-class Piano Lessons in suburban Adelaide, as she attunes herself to the “alternative universe” of music, her fascinated dedication taking her to the doorstep of a career. The memoir extracts also serve to bring in the kinds of Australian childhoods we might indeed see on Neighbours.
“We didn’t even exist.” Then, a brief, glinting note of contrast (or “reprieve”), in the years 13 to 15, when “the white kids wanted to be us … to talk like us and act like us”. From his earliest history lessons, his ancestors are written out. Aged 15, his principal takes aside the Aboriginal kids to suggest that they leave school. Stan Grant’s recollections of “exclusion and difference” as the “abiding lessons” of his early school years (from his memoir Talking to My Country) powerfully open the anthology. Growing Up in Australia provides a kind of overview of what Pung calls “true Australian childhoods”, drawing on the series so far – and on a selection of memoirs. Growing Up in Country Australia is in progress.
Over 14 years, the series has grown to encompass stories from specifically Aboriginal, African, queer and disabled childhoods. In her introduction to this volume, Alice Pung praises the “Growing Up” series, of which she edited the first volume ( Growing Up Asian in Australia) in 2008, for its role in “countering the ‘proper’ childhoods propagated by Neighbours, The Saddle Club and American television”. Streaky Bay music festival kicks off with Oz rock veterans Search All categories
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